Lovely Fort Portal

Uganda is a lovely country of friendly people, a huge concentration of primates and colorful birds, beautiful mountains, and the Nile River. Vegetarians exploring Uganda have various options, but vegans need some creativity.

Kampala, the capital city, is vibrant and makes a good place to fuel up on veggie fare. Indian, Greek, Italian and other international cuisines can be found.

Across from National Theatre, a cultural hub, New City Annex Hotel’s restaurant offers many veggie options. On the same block is excellent Indian food at Masala Chaat House and also at the all-vegetarian Govinda’s below the Iskon Hare Krishna temple. To boot, Govinda’s has Chinese meals, pizza, sandwiches and an impressive case of sweets and snacks for the road.

In the Kololo area of Kampala, The Crocodile Café and Bar makes a great veggie burger with fries, and kebabs and pancakes for vegetarians.

Posing for a Photo

Entebbe is a relaxing smaller city offering nice Lake Victoria beaches and the animal refuge called Uganda Wildlife Education Centre. Ciao Bella has a tropical setting and delicious pizzas and pastas. New China Garden serves tofu and many veggie plates.

The Fort Portal area shines with several crater lakes, and chimpanzee tracking at nearby Kibale Forest National Park, which has a restaurant with veggie burgers. In Fort Portal, Shop Organic sells nuts, fruits and healthy items. Gardens cooks up samosas and other vegetarian fare.

The lush town of Jinja is the place to see the source of the Nile River and dine on meat-free options at the Nile Camp above the river. In town, try the artsy café Flavours, and for tasty Indian cuisine, Aaswad Restaurant.

If you love animals, nature and warm people, journey to Uganda, the ‘Pearl of Africa’ – you won’t be sorry.

This article is reprinted from VegDining.com.

While it doesn’t compare to the abundance of vegetarian options in Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco, San Diego is becoming an easier place to find veggie food.

Compassion Over Killing and Animal Protection and Rescue League have teamed up and impress with their new brochure, “The Vegetarian Guide to San Diego.”

The Guide points out some new spots for finding grub that even longtime San Diegans may not be aware of. Alchemy Restaurant and Bar, for example, has a vegetarian tasting menu every Wednesday — a $25 farmer’s market three course dinner. Also try some vegan cream cheese at Big City Bagels, or chocolate cheesecake vegan cupcakes at Cups. Tao Restaurant has delicious Japanese and Vietnamese offerings, including homemade tofu.

COK and APRL are also putting together San Diego Veg Week, taking place Oct. 2-9. Last year over 500 people took a pledge to be vegetarian for one week, and this year the goal is to have 1,000 committed folks. Some local restaurants will offer deals that week, and several events are planned, from a veg shopping tour at Trader Joe’s to a cooking demo by Veg-Appeal. The week culminates in the Compassion Bash which features Dr. Neal Barnard of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.

In other news, San Diego boasts several veg-friendly meetups, and new ones pop up often, like the Healthy Dinner Club which plans weekly visits to organic, vegan and vegetarian restaurants.

If you know of any other herbivorous happenings in San Diego, please leave a comment. I am always keeping an eye open!

Photo Credit – Keetsa.

Homemade Lunch

I am still jetlagged since returning from lovely Uganda two days ago, but I wanted to share my experiences with vegetarian travel in Uganda.

If being a vegetarian, and even more so vegan, is uncommon in the U.S., it was even rarer in Uganda. Someone who had spent a lot of time in Uganda said I should say I was vegetarian because of allergies, since the other typically listed animal rights, environmental and health reasons would be misunderstood. I told the truth to those questioning my vegan diet:  I don’t support the way the animals are treated in the U.S. in factory farms, and gave a brief overview of the environmental and health reasons, and was surprisingly met with little skepticism.

Fresh from the Market

What challenged people more was what to feed me. I spent several days with two Ugandan cousins in their early 20s. The first few times I asked the male to join us for dinner, he refused, finally admitting he did not like vegetables. By the next day, he had harvested vegetables out of the garden he was tending and told me he loved eating them, to my excitement. The female enjoyed experimenting with things she normally wouldn’t make: cabbage, local greens and avocado from their garden, sweet potatoes, beans and rice, and for breakfast, millet porridge.

Bananas are big in Uganda, as well as matoke, cooked banana (not sweet, but filling). Often I was eating too much starch, including pasta, rice, potatoes and so on, but I made the best of it and brought protein bars and vitamins to supplement.

Soon I will reprint an article I am working on for VegDining.com that will include more details on the beautiful East African country and restaurant info for those doing vegetarian travel to Uganda in the future.

Finally chasing my dream of many years, I am taking my first trip to Africa next week. My heart has long felt a connection to the region and the people. To explore a continent filled with many countries (about 50, the counts I have seen vary) it could take years. In three weeks I will cover a portion of just one country: Uganda, where a friend lives, and a country which sparked my work with African refugees in San Diego a few years ago after seeing the film Invisible Children about the sad lives of child soldiers.

I’m looking forward to roaming around a beautiful country, seeing new landscapes and meeting future friends. Rather than writing to encourage people to stop eating animals –  I will be out in the world seeing some amazing animals. On that note, I will be taking a break from blogging for about a month. Stay tuned, though, for articles on veggie food options and tales from Uganda!

Have a great month.

Farm Folks

July 17 was La Milpa Organica Farm’s potluck and movie, held on the third Saturday of each month and well-loved by many in the San Diego area. The event, held at the farm five miles north of Escondido, consists of a free open house during which people tour the farm and learn where their food comes from, and meet people with similar interests.

Visitors also taste many delicious items, as everyone brings something to eat, and there are many vegan dishes. Pizzas are cooked in an outdoor oven, often with a vegan option. Despite the hot summer day, people lined up for the slices with non-dairy Daiya cheese.

We also feasted on vegan jambalaya, bean and corn salad, various pastas, watermelon, homemade iced tea, and for dessert, pecan chocolate pie.  Another treat was the maple hazelnut wafers with chocolate fudge sauce local George Vutetakis shared. He also showed folks his Vegetarian Traditions vegan cookbook.

Where the Pizza is Cooked

Each potluck has live bands playing, and a film is shown in an outdoor theater under the oak trees. I once saw a great movie at La Milpa on earthships, ecologically-designed homes often found in the Southwest U.S.

La Milpa grows organic vegetables, greens and herbs, which they deliver to local restaurants, community supported agriculture members (CSAs), and sell at the following San Diego farmer’s markets: Thursday in Oceanside, Friday in La Mesa, Saturday in Vista, and Sunday in Hillcrest.

La Milpa is a group of people passionate about the land, healthy eating, and educating others. For more info on eating sustainably in the San Diego area, see San Diego Roots.

Support your local farms — and try some vegan dishes while you are at it — by attending one of the events at La Milpa.

Dr. Sandeep Gupta is an expert in nutritional medicine and raw foods who lives in Australia. His interests lie in treating anxiety and depression, heart disease, and other health problems.  Gupta walks his healthy lifestyle talk by practicing meditation and yoga and also plays many musical instruments.

Gupta is proactive about his education, currently studying in Dr. Gabriel Cousens‘ Master’s program. Cousens is the founder of the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center and is globally recognized as a teacher, author, holistic physician and beyond.

“I am in awe of his range of knowledge and skills,” said Gupta.

A lactovegetarian most of his life (in a dedicated way since 1995), Gupta became raw vegan in a gradual shift since 2005. Since following a raw foods diet, he has noticed improved energy levels and moods, lighter feelings and the ability to laugh and be vibrant. Also he notes a closer connection to the earth.

While Gupta encourages patients to follow vegan or  similar diets, he respects that people are all on their own path. The raw food movement in Australia is growing more popular, with raw groups in all the capital cities and many smaller cities. Over 300 people  saw David Wolfe in each major city he spoke earlier this year, Gupta said.

Besides Cousens and Wolfe, Gupta’s role models with the raw foods diet and health include Mike Adams, who Gupta said has the courage to speak the truth; Victoria Boutenko who has simplified raw food nutrition; and David Rainoshek.  Gupta claims Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. Neal Barnard, and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) “have put vegan nutrition in a form that can be acceptable to other medical practitioners.”

People who have health concerns or want to change their diets may not know where to begin, but with so many resources and experts like Gupta, we can successfully find a path to health.

Would you like to have organic meals delivered to your front door? If you live in the San Diego area, you are in luck, as personal chef and Certified Nutrition Counselor Rose McClain would love to feed you. Choose several items from a vegan menu through Rose’s Organic Kitchen, started over 10 years ago.

Rose became a vegetarian more than 30 years ago for health reasons, and vegan 19 years ago when she learned about how animals bred for meat are raised and treated.  Her daughter Teagen McClain, a San Diego activist and vegan, introduced Rose into the world of animal rights, which resulted in her going vegan. Likewise Rose’s positive influence and nutritional knowledge have rubbed off on Teagen, who worked with her mother in the past and has been actively planning veggie events recently.

Rose’s Organic Kitchen specializes in macrobiotic, gluten-free and other diets — not only meal preparation and delivery but cooking classes, personal chef services, and consulting. As a personal chef, she charges an hourly wage; for delivery services it costs about $75 for four meals.

A sample vegan menu includes Seitan Stroganoff, Eggplant Moussaka,  Creamy Carrot Soup, Polenta Slices with Garlic and Herbs, and Mixed Greens with Ume and Sesame Dressing.

Where does someone with cooking talents get inspiration? Sometimes from other people with similar passions. One of Rose’s favorite cookbooks is Fresh From a Vegetarian Kitchen by award-winning cookbook author Meredith McCarty who lectures globally on healthy eating and offers cooking classes and nutritional counseling as well. Another beloved cookbook is Vegan Vittles by Jo Stepaniak (whose Grassroots Veganism: Ask Jo feature has been a great resource for years for how to handle relationships, ethical and other situations vegetarians/vegans face).

To have healthy meals coming to your home or for more info, contact Rose at 619-283-3022.

It is unbelievable how life flies by, seemingly more so the older we get. As I turn 40 today I reflect on the journey since becoming a vegetarian 36 years ago — a choice I made as a four-year-old. My decision was supported by my mother who was already conscious of animal cruelty but was feeding us meat because she felt pressure from others for her “radical” choices at the time.

The year I was born, 1970, was also the first Earth Day — a big step for people to make correlations between their actions and the planet’s well-being.  For environmental and health reasons, and out of compassion for animals, I became a vegan 20 years ago. The world and the meat-free movement have changed much since I made those two dietary transitions.

Now with social media like Facebook and Twitter, vegetarians and vegans all over the world are in touch, relieving the isolation our unique lifestyle can bring. Many of us went from being called writers to being referred to as “bloggers” – who knew what that was until recent years? There are veggie blogs left and right; one can hardly keep up with all the information and inspiration.

Becoming a vegetarian today is much easier than a few decades ago. There are veggie events, great magazines like VegNews (celebrating its 10 year anniversary), cookbooks, restaurants, bakeries, and more. Food options have multiplied like crazy, and vegan cheeses have evolved from weird to delicious and capable of melting! There are many more types of energy bars, ice creams and other desserts without animal products.

As for veggie-friendly regions, San Francisco is in the forefront, having passed a resolution to observe every Monday as Vegetarian Day – urging local restaurants, schools and grocery stores to offer meatless options. May other cities follow soon. Let’s celebrate the huge strides we have made toward having a more compassionate world. That is the best birthday gift a lifelong vegetarian could ask for.

Photo by Navitas Naturals.

With John Salley

I had a blast at PlanetFest 2010- the second annual Vegan Earth Day in Orange County on June 27, put on by Bob Linden of GoVeganRadio and filled with vegetarian leaders. It was a sunny day and a good flow of people attended throughout the day. Many booths provided educational info, and delicious veggie food was in abundance as were inspirational folks in the movement.

NBA champion and wellness guru John Salley was one of the speakers who also stopped to say hello to numerous people intrigued by his fame and size. He told me he was 7′ tall.

Did you know factory farming was an emerging problem in Africa? Anteneh Roba, M.D., of International Fund for Africa, was a unique and dedicated speaker who pointed out the parallels between cruelty to animals and human rights violations. Roba has also started an Ethiopian Vegan Association!

Dr. Elliot Katz of In Defense of Animals and NFL superstar Tony Gonzalez were other speakers, and live music by many bands was part of the lineup as well.

Food was provided by various organizations and restaurants such as: da Vinci’s Delight (vegan quiches), Bodhi Tree Vegetarian Cafe, a new veggie trailer called SeaBirds which made my yummy mango veggie burger, and Strictly Vegan (Jamaican jerk and curry dishes). For dessert, Stuff I Eat sold sweet potato pies, and Maggie Mudd dished up enormous servings of vegan ice cream.

Last Chance for Animals, The Living Temple and others displayed healthy and eco-friendly products for sale.

There was something for everyone, whether a longtimer or new to the veggie movement. If you are not active yet, why not become one of your community’s vegetarian leaders? Help plan events, enjoy networking, and promote conscious products — among many other ways to get involved.

VeggieDate Couple- Photo by The Star-Ledger

Steve Urow has been running VeggieDate since 1999 when he started the vegetarian dating website to make it easier for people who believe in the “vegetarian lifestyle” to meet. Vegetarians are very geographically spread out and hard to meet, and it is difficult to find support and encouragement in this meat-eating world, he says.

VeggieDate differs from other online dating/networking sites because they focus on the significant lifestyle choice of vegetarianism. In most cases vegetarianism or veganism are not just diets but lifestyles with an emphasis of concern for human health, animal welfare and the environment.

While it is mostly a dating site, VeggieDate does have a selection for “seeking friends / activity partner,” and allow people to post business or other contact information in their ad for a one-time fee. The site accommodates LGBT people with categories for Lesbian, Gay and Bi.

Dating websites allow an initial low involvement and cost for meeting people. Online dating is more socially acceptable today, and you can do it from your own home.

“But until you meet you do not know for sure. It is sad when two folks can have great correspondence but when they meet the energy or connection is just not there. But in these times I believe we have to make a big effort,” explained Urow, who did not meet his wife through VeggieDate.

Urow, who calls himself “nearly vegan,” said that while spam and scammers taking out ads are a nuisance, the best part of his work is bringing people together who share a compassionate lifestyle and promoting vegetarianism in general.

If you are looking for love or to socialize with people who share your values, VeggieDate and other vegetarian dating websites are just a click away.